Ask the Right Questions to Determine Your Customer's Budget

By Brad Husiken - January 12, 2012

As a salesperson you have to realize and understand that customers have different budgets for different things. Just because a customer wants to spend a given amount on one item doesn’t mean that they don’t have the money or want to spend even more money on a different product or service. Assuming that a customer is looking for one item and one item only is a major selling error. Many times even the customer doesn’t realize that they are in need of additional items.

Should a customer want to spend $50 on a graduation gift for his friend’s daughters’ graduation doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have $1,000 to spend on his wife’s birthday gift. Should a customer only want to spend $1,000 on a bicycle doesn’t mean that she doesn’t have hundreds of additional dollars to spend on a helmet and all the accessories that she will need. Just because a customer only wants to spend $500 on patio furniture doesn’t mean he/she doesn’t have another $500 to spend on a new barbeque.

In order to maximize every selling opportunity, you simply can’t afford to assume anything. The only way that a salesperson can gather all the needed information is to ask questions. I am not talking about pushy, aggressive questions like, “What else can I show you?” Or “What else will you be needing with this?” I mean good, solid, informal, fact-finding questions like: “What other special events might you have coming up? Or “How long have you been riding?” “What kind of a helmet do you have?” “What brand of bicycling shoes do you prefer?” “How often will you be entertaining on the patio?” “Who does the cooking when you barbeque?” “Do you own a gas grill or do you use charcoal?”

Think about appropriate questions that you can ask to determine if any additional items are needed and what would be the appropriate items to add-on. Again, don’t assume anything; ask conversational questions!